Golfers enjoy a trout dinner thanks to a generous birdie
A PAIR of golfers were treated to a free dinner when a bird of prey swooped over their heads and dropped a trout on the fairway.
Tony Wright and Paul Friend were on the 14th tee at Rutland Water Golf Club in Oakham, Leics, when the bird carrying the fish in its talons landed in front of them.
As it struggled to fly off with its meal, it instead chose to leave it lying on the grass.
Mr Wright, of Burton Lazars, near Melton, who is the ex-seniors champion at the club, said: “The bird flew very low over our heads and landed about 100 yards in front of us.
“Then we saw it had dropped the trout – it was a million-to-one coincidence, even better than a hole-in-one!
“Paul said it was a red kite and it had the trout in its talons, but as we got near, it flew off.”
Mr Friend, 73, a keen angler, added: “I’ve fished for years and even used to work in fisheries at Rutland Water, but I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Rather than leaving the fish in its place, the friends instead took it home and gutted it, before having it for dinner.
Mr Wright, 70, said: “We put the trout in a bag and took it to the clubhouse where they kindly let Paul gut it and clean it. It tasted delicious!”
It’s believed the red kites have picked up the fishing techniques used by Rutland Water’s visiting ospreys, which swoop down to grab trout in their talons.
Mr Friend said: “It’s usually osprey that do the fishing, so I imagine the red kite had stolen the fish off the lakeside bank. Perhaps a fisherman had caught it and placed it there, and the red kite saw the opportunity, but then dropped it from its talons as it flew over us at the 14th fairway.”